As I’ve gotten farther into my fifth year here at Tech, I find myself putting on a necktie in the morning more frequently. Whether it be for a career fair that day, a presentation that has to be made or just to impress someone with how dressed up I can get. But with that frequency increasing, so is the question as to why am I choking myself with this thing. I know you’re thinking “this guy just doesn’t know how to tie a tie,” and if that were the case, I’d still be asking myself the same questions. But truly, where did this cultural norm come from? I just won’t be convinced that these are any form of comfort for anyone as it’s too much of a relief to take them back off.

The etymology dictionary traces the origins of the actual word to old English meaning “cord, band, thong, fetter or literally that with which anything is tied.” According to An Uncommon History of Common Things by Bethanne Patrick and John Thompson, the modern day neck tie has been attributed to many different origins. China’s first emperor, Shih Huang Ti, who was buried with his Terracotta army whose more than 8,000 life size soldiers replicas shared the common theme of wearing a wrapped neck cloth or variation of a neck tie.

Variations of the tie are also seen in Rome, Italy, where Emperor Trajan ruled the Roman Empire from 98 to 117 AD and his military conquest of Dacia were depicted in Trajan’s marble column and displayed thousands of soldiers wearing various styles of neckwear. Examples of neckwear in the military setting continued into the early 1630’s during the Thirty Years War in which Croatian soldiers who were supporting France wore colorful, knotted neckerchiefs as a part of their uniform which was later picked up by King Louis XIV when they became fashionable in France and began to be regarded as the Cravat or the first true mention of ties. French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte even frequently wore the cravat in the early 1800s.

The Industrial Revolution led to the necktie that many of us know today as “white collar” workers sought comfort and simplicity over various elaborate styles which had no place on the factory floor.

It was also this time that the first schools such as Oxford University began incorporating ties tied four-in-hand into various affiliations.

And the 1920s saw the tie evolve most dramatically at they began the fabric began to be cut at a 45 degree angle using a three piece construction which allowed the tie to drape evenly without twisting when tied in standard knots and is the look that many of us know today in various colors, sizes and designs.

With the tie having been around in so many variations for so long, I can see why it’s still regarded as an essential piece of menswear. But to me it will always go back to being nothing more than something my Dad told me to put on for Church because it looked nice. From there it’s only ever been about dressing up and perceptions from others as to the reasons I wear ties.

The perception as I see it comes mainly from a sort of confidence that our culture regards to men wearing full suits and the professionalism this brings with it. Beyond that though, I have observed many workplaces changing the ways in which they operate with much more casual dress becoming the norm. This is a change I can definitely stand behind.

When I saw a live news stream last week from WSBTV of an ambulance carrying carrying Amber Vinson from the airport to Emory University Hospital, all I could think was that this type of coverage had gone too far.

Vinson is the nurse from Texas Health Presbyterian hospital in Dallas who helped attempt to treat Thomas Eric Duncan and also contracted the disease.

Duncan is the only patient infected with Ebola in the US to pass away after he was first misdiagnosed at a Dallas area hospital.

I don’t really consider that kind of story as anything other than scare tactics that are completely unnecessary but all too common right now.

This isn’t the first time something like this has come up in the media; it happened in the 1980s with the AIDS epidemic at the time, with various strains of Influenza through the years and now it’s happening with Ebola in West Africa and around the world.

Don’t get me wrong, all of these are terrible infectious diseases that have affected countless lives but they should not be used as a tool to spread fear.

Instead of educating the public, many of the larger media outlets have taken to scaring them instead with headlines from CNN calling Ebola the “ISIS of Bio-Agents” or from anchors at Fox News describing the infectious disease as a “terror agent”. My question is what’s the goal of this type coverage because it is certainly not to inform.

What about the realities of the situation instead of trying to incite fear in the US. What about the people in the West African countries of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone who have been and are still being severely affected by this infectious disease. According to the World Health Organization, at least 4,877 people have died from this Ebola Outbreak in West Africa and at least 9,936 cases of the disease had been recorded as of October 19.

Large media outlets need to move beyond shooting for ratings by covering non-stories around the clock. Responsibility should be taken as they are the ones who are clearly being listened to and there is a need for a shift from sensationalizing a terrible disease that is affecting thousands to educating those who don’t know as to how they can help those in need.

Help can come in many forms, whether that be through making donations through organizations like Americares or UNICEF. But these and other sustainable solutions to this real problem are much more important than scaring the public with fiction over the facts.

The fact remains that this is an terrible infectious virus. The big reason there has been such a big outbreak in areas some areas in West Africa is because of the lack of available resources. Many simply cannot handle what comes with this disease at this point in time and could use real aid. This is not the case in the US.

On July 1st, the new Safe Carry Protection Act of 2014 which was signed by Governor Nathan Deal back in April will go into effect across the state of Georgia. According to an end of session analysis by the non partisan state senate research office House Bill 60 will expand the rights of gun owners in various ways.

This will include allowing people with a license to carry a gun the right to carry in bars and associated parking facilities (though gun holders can be forced to leave upon notice by the property owner), government buildings (except where entry is typically screened during business hours by security personnel), places of worship (with approval), as well as school safety zones with approval from school officials.

As reported by the Washington Post, the bill will also expand Georgia’s “Stand your Ground” law, get rid of the need for firearms dealers to maintain record of sales and purchases for state purposes, suspend the governor’s authority to suspend or limit the carrying or sale of guns, making banning or restricting lawful firearm possession in public housing illegal, expand the pre-emption of local laws, remove the fingerprinting requirement for license renewals, as well as not allow the maintenance of a database of information on license holders that spans multiple jurisdictions

As the question goes If you see someone pull a gun threatening to harm others, do you wish you had a gun so you could shoot them down? Or do you wish the other person didn’t have a gun at all? The debate is neverending as one side will say that if there’s no guns we wouldn’t be faced with this decision while the other believes its unrealistic to think that guns can be kept out of the hands of those intent on hurting others.

Ultimately there’s no solution in which everyone is happy.

According to some HB 60 is considered the most sweeping pro-gun measure passed in the US this year with opponents like the “Americans For Responsible Solutions,” calling it “extremism in action,” and proponents like GeorgiaCarry.org which lobbied for the bill calling the bill “meaningful pro-gun legislation.”

My problem with this new law coming into effect in the state of Georgia is that it does not truly help anyone. Why do we need guns in churches? A place of worship is one of the last places I would expect anyone to want or need a gun, so who does it help? Why do we need guns in bars? Since when have alcohol and guns been a combination that logically makes sense, how does that help reduce violence? Why do we need guns in schools? I only think of places like here at Tech where students already realize that they are overstressed with a heavy workload at all times. Would a gun help with these frustrations or lead to consequences no one wants to see? Or why not have records of license gun owners or where people are purchasing these guns? For me personally there are just too many questions that result from this legislation rather than answers or solutions to reducing gun violence and violent crime.

Two weeks ago I lost a family member to this gun violence, they were found in Southwest Atlanta shot and killed in their car. We don’t know the circumstances behind this shooting and nobody including the police have been able to provide information as to a motive behind this.

Do I wish that they had a gun in his car? No. Do I wish that whoever shot them did not have access to a gun at all? Yes. To me more people on the streets with access to guns does nothing but result in more injuries and violence. I do believe that continuing to expand gun rights in Georgia and across the country is the wrong way to go, and all I really want to see is an end to unnecessary violence.

On April 1, all of the SGA Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates attended the Ramblin’ On debates hosted by the Technique, SCPC and SGA. Alex Bandes and Yvonne Ploder; Dillon Roseen and Brandie Banner; and Conrad Rybka answered questions and debated campus issues.

The candidates all made opening statements to begin the debate.

“First off, I just want to thank everybody for being here. Yvonne and I are very excited about this election coming up and I just want to focus on one key thing right now. It’s that your vision is our direction. Ultimately, we have very attainable and realistic goals that we know that we can accomplish; but at the end of the day, it’s about you and we want to make sure that we can represent student opinions in all facets of campus,” Bandes said.

“As Alex said, your vision really is our direction. We have a lot of great ideas but we want to hear from you guys as to what you want. So we’re really excited to be here, answer your questions and really give the best election we can,” Ploder said.

“My name is Dillon Roseen and I just want to thank the Technique and all of you for being here and hosting this event. I think it’s very important that we talk about these campus issues. This election is very different than in the past. We have three candidates running so all of you have options this year on who you want to vote for and you can really dive into the issues. So thank you for coming here to learn about those and to learn about us. Since Ian already talked about our experience, I just want to talk about why I’m  personally running and then allow Brandie to do the same. For me personally, I know that everyone goes through ups and downs at Tech and I think that we can all share that and we can use SGA to improve the student experience for everyone and using our experience, I believe we have the best chance of doing that at Georgia Tech,” Roseen said.

“Definitely, and I as well have had a wonderful experience here at Tech and I want every student to have the same experience. I’m running because I think that SGA is one of the easiest ways to impact campus and I want to be a part of a long term impact,” Banner said.

“Hey everyone, I’m Conrad Rybka and I do want to thank you for being here. I’ll tell you a little bit about why Donovan and I are running as well. We really see a need for something different in the coming year in SGA. We really feel that SGA has done incredible things on this campus but they don’t take credit for it, they don’t do a great job of letting students know exactly what they do. And this is a problem because the students don’t actually care about SGA because they don’t think that it can do anything for them or solve their problems. And what we want to do is bring our outside perspective and bring it in to SGA and bring in our vision of an outwardly attractive and engage in SGA and that’s how I think that we’re a little bit different,” Rybka said.

After opening statements, the candidates answered five questions.

Question 1: What deliverables have you accomplished during your time at Tech for the student body to qualify you to be SGA President and Executive Vice President.

Bandes’ response delved into his time working in dining services and establishing late night healthy options in dining halls after negotiations with Sodexo. Between Bandes and Ploder there are five years of experience in all three cabinets of SGA.

Roseen touched on his experiences as a member of FreshGA to being this year’s SGA Director of Internal Affairs. Banner has most of her experience outside of SGA such as starting up campus closets and service projects through FASET.

Rybka explained how neither he nor his running mate Donovan Shuman, who is studying abroad this semester, have experience in SGA but their experience on various executive boards outside of SGA has prepared them to step into these roles.

Question 2: How do you plan to use your position as SGA president and Executive VP to represent and push student body interests to BOR and the state legislature?

Roseen stressed the importance of continuing polling like the current SGA did with the smoking ban and advocating for what a majority of campus wants with state legislature.

Rybka wants to do a better job of reaching out to all students and not just those involved with SGA or greek life on campus in order to show that SGA does care about those students too.

While Bandes wants to continue polling but move beyond that and have more conversations with students in person to really gauge student interests and take those interests on to the capitol. Bandes and Ploder stressed communication as the key to success.

Question 3: Given that half of the student body was not in accord with the smoking ban on campus, how do you plan to address this portion of the student body?

Rybka explained that SGA needs to show students on both sides that SGA cares about their opinion, as well as propose alternatives for those that opposed the ban.

Ploder and Bandes both said that the best thing to be is realistic and not sugar coat what’s going to happen next year on campus as the BOR is adamant about the ban.

Roseen and Banner talked about their idea for an “Out of Office Hours” initiative for engaging students more outside of the classroom and traditional SGA office hours to really discuss where the student body stands on campus issues.

Question 4: On campus as everyone knows, we’ve had quite a few incidences of sexual assault and sexual violence. Do you see this as a major problem and how specifically do you plan to address this problem?

Bandes’ response focused in on the fact that this is a conversation that extends beyond just mental health but also working with GTPD, the counseling center, the women’s resource center  and other areas on campus equipped to deal with these issues. Ploder is a justice of the UJC and is prepared to hear cases of sexual assault. But as part of the mental health portion of their platform, they want to create concrete plans of more preventative action than action oriented.

Roseen and Banner both acknowledged that this goes beyond being a gender specific issue and that they were working on more initiatives going through both the Women’s resource center and OSI that would start more educational programs for males on campus to be more vocal and involved in advocating for victims and survivors. They also are working on a proposal to establish a peer counseling initiative in conjunction with the Counseling Center.

Rybka said that there is an awareness issue on campus and that not enough people know how serious of a problem this is. He wants to work with organizations already working to raise awareness and ensure that they have enough resources to do what they’re already doing and more.

Question 5: What are your biggest priorities and your philosophy on how you’re going to make those changes with our administration?

Roseen and Banner’s biggest priority is to improve student life on campus. They want to focus on improving student life through academics and mental health resources as well as school spirit and community. They have goals to improve the campus infrastructure in places like the student center, library and technological resources available on campus. Philosophically, they said it’s a matter of improving the student experience for everyone so that the entire campus can find a positive experience everyday at Tech.

Rybka said the biggest thing he wants to focus on is internally with SGA because not enough of the student body interacts with SGA on a regular basis. With his and Shuman’s passion and vision, they believe they can lead the student body and show the administration what the entire student body truly cares about.

After the questions posed by the moderators, each candidate had the opportunity to pose one question to the other two candidates before closing statements.

Rybka’s Question: I’ve spoken to both of the presidential candidates about this, about what our number 1 goal is and what we see needs to be the biggest improvement. I’m curious as to what your plan is to reach out to the rest of the student body and make sure that their opinion is heard and not just the typical SGA group of students?

Roseen and Banner’s response included the fact that they already have a diverse set of experiences coming into this role ranging from Banner being a PL in housing, Roseen in Greek Life and both being involved with FASET orientation. They believe this experience already has and will continue to allow them to reach out to a lot of students who may not care as much about SGA. They want to be more approachable and change the way that SGA operates from them waiting for students to come to them to having SGA reach out more to students to find out their problems and make sure they’re being addressed.

Bandes’ and Ploders’ responses acknowledged the fact that the entire student body is a pretty separated community but methodology like polling students has proven to be effective this year. They said that continuing and expanding these types of communication to the student body in order to better inform the entire student body as to what’s going on, as well as gauge their opinions on how they feel about certain actions taken that will affect them. Specifically, examples like the SGA website need to be updated and SGA as a whole needs to be better about reaching out to students on a more individual level.

Roseen’s Question: Seeing as you only have one year in office, how do you plan to come from a position of no executive cabinet experience and form those relationships so you can really hit the ground running next year?

Rybka’s response was one that said that neither he or Shuman had any executive cabinet experience but they’re continually taking steps to learn more about what it would take on a day to day basis if they were elected to office. He said they would not hesitate to surround themselves with more people who do know what they’re doing as they continue to learn more. They also believe that regardless of experience they have the passion and vision to lead SGA in a new direction that is needed.

Bandes’ and Ploder’s response was that even though they don’t have experience on the executive cabinet, Bandes does have experience in the executive branch. Specifically as the Institute Wide Committee’s chair last year where he reached out to administrators across campus that dealt campus issues and also found students to help represent student opinion on these various committees and groups. They naturally have many relationships with various cabinet members and administrators and don’t feel that this would be a problem for their campaign in the future.

Bandes’ Question: Yvonne and I have been looking at the other teams platforms and we’ve noticed that some of them have some pretty lofty goals. One ticket, the Roseen Banner ticket has approximately 29 specific initiatives and there are approximately 30 weeks in an entire school year. Conrad and Donovans ticket, I’m not sure on a specific number but there are some pretty lofty goals in there. I want to know how you plan on accomplishing these tangible goals with such a wide range of things that you can do for campus.

Banner started off by acknowledging the fact that their campaign had spread the net very wide but attributed this to their passion and love for Tech. They want to accomplish as much as they can next year and pointed out that some of the initiatives on their platform are already works in progress. Roseen pointed out that their full platform from their website points out specifically which ones were already being worked on. They said that if they limited their goals they didn’t think they would achieve something as great as they could and really make change.

Rybka pointed out how Nick and Lucy have done a great job of showing what an expansive platform can do in allowing for them to get thing started that they may not necessarily finish in their one year. These initiatives would be laid out for those following them to work more on and push forward. He said that putting their goals out there is not a bad idea because it shows the student body what they’re constantly pushing towards. If they can’t get these things done, they can at least get them started.

Closing Statements

After candidates questioned each other, they were given 90 seconds to make closing statements summarizing their thoughts and any of their goals for the following year.

“Thank you guys again for coming out and listening. I know that I’m not quick on my toes and I’m not very polished when I speak. I don’t have the political experience and neither does Donovan, but like I’ve said before and I’m going to harp on again, we have the passion. We’re not doing this because this is the next logical step in our SGA progression. We’re doing this because we’ve been around campus and we see that there are issues and we’ve seen that year to year that doesn’t change. And we want to get that done. We want to be the difference that SGA needs. We offer something different, we offer something more creative, we have a different vision for an SGA that is outwardly engaging and outwardly attractive to the student body. So what we lack in experience we make up for in passion. We wouldn’t be taking on this huge, huge challenge if we didn’t think we were what GT needs next. So again I just thank you for taking the time to listen, I apologize again for my nervousness but I really do think that we have what it takes,” Rybka said.

“Thank you guys so much for listening to us, it’s been a lot of fun, and I know I can speak for Dillon and I, but I want to harp on Georgia Tech’s mottos – progress and service. And that’s exactly what Dillon and I envision for this next year if we’re elected. We want to make progress on campus and we want to serve the student body and we’d be so thankful for the opportunity to do that. We also have a very different vision for SGA but we also have the experience to know what works and what doesn’t and I think that’s what differentiates us,” Banner said.

“Yeah and I think that when you’re looking at who you want to vote for. What I look for personally is three things: what they plan to do and you can see that all in our platforms; how they plan to do that, you can look to experience and past successes; but really the critical piece is why and I think that when you talk about passion and love for Georgia Tech, this school has taught me so much has given so much to me and it’s crazy to go through the ups and downs. I started off architecture and if you’re architecture then more power to you because that is a really tough major. But I did not love Georgia Tech during that time and I think everyone goes through those experiences. So if we can do our jobs appropriately, then I think everyone will learn to love this school and I want everyone to have just as positive of an experience and to find their true significance and their value here as a student and as a Ramblin’ Wreck. Because truly we’re not wrecks, we’re actually pretty awesome and I want everyone to realize that,” Roseen said.

“Again thank you all for coming out today and for showing interest in these elections. I’m personally running, again, for the why aspect of this and that’s because I truly believe in this institution. I want to serve it and really make your ideas happen. Again, your vision is really our direction and Alex and I have really put a lot of time into thinking how we can best serve SGA and the student body. And we really are excited for this,” Ploder said.

“When it comes down to it for me personally I want to make sure I can have a lasting positive influence on the student body and on Georgia Tech in general. I think Yvonne and I have a lot to offer with our broad range of experience. We’re the only candidates with experience in all three branches of SGA, we want to unify SGA and make it a better organization for students to approach. At the end of the day we always have to say it’s about you. Your vision is our direction and if you vote Bandes Ploder for 2014 we will make sure that that comes true,” Bandes said.

Full platforms for each candidate can be found at their respective campaign websites. Polls are now open at elections.gatech.edu from now until April 9.

On March 18, the “T” off of the north side of Tech Tower facing the A. French Building was stolen for the first time in more than a decade.

According to GTPD police report number 14030625, it was noticed by a facilities employee who reported it at 12:20 p.m. who stated that his boss had contacted him at about 11:45 a.m. and wanted to confirm whether or not the “T” was missing after seeing a picture posted on Reddit. The facilities employee had checked after this and confirmed that there was no one in facilities conducting maintenance on the “T” and that it was in fact missing.

GTPD officers reconvened on the fourth floor of the building at that time to look at the remaining letters more closely, finding miscellaneous debris on the stairs at the scene. The officers secured the scene at that time and waited for the Criminal Investigations Division (CID)  to arrive as well.

All teams made contact on the fourth floor mechanical room where facilities employees observed the alarm system for the letters. At that time, the alarm system was deactivated, and the employee said that the last time he knew of anyone disabling the alarm and continuing up to the tower was weeks prior for maintenance purposes. However, the hatch that leads to the tower itself was locked and secured.

GTPD officers checked the interior of the actual tower as well with CID, where they did not observe any evidence indicating recent disturbance. The report states that cobwebs and dust were still present, the window where the “T” was missing from did not appear to be disturbed with any type of forced entry and the padlock to the window was not damaged and was properly secured.

CID continued to process the area around Tech Tower until they observed an area in the bushes on the north side of the building by the exit door to Highland Bakery which looked freshly disturbed. CID processed this scene as well, collecting multiple pieces of evidence which were not indicated more specifically in the report.

After climbing the roof of the building, officers observed two muddy foot prints on the initial landing as well as several pieces of broken yellow glass. The broken glass trail began at the landing and continued all the way up the fire escape ladder onto the other roof. Once at the top of the fire escape, officers could see clearly the area where the “T” was missing. On the roof leading towards the remaining letters were pieces of white rope which appeared to match a white rope that was still hanging from the area where the “T” had previously been.

The facilities employee stated that with installation, the approximate cost of the “T” would be $10,000. GTPD Officers and CID continued to canvas the area before reconvening at 4:00 p.m..

Officers viewed surveillance footage from the area in order to locate an individual and vehicle of interest in reference to the theft of the “T.” The police met with the identified student, whom he gave consent to search his vehicle.

The student stated that he understood how serious this matter was and wanted to hand over the “T”. He led them back to his house, where they retrieved the “T” and loaded it into the Officers’ truck to be transported back.

The student was subsequently placed under investigative detention and brought in for questioning by the CID, after which he was cited for “Theft by Taking” and “Criminal Damage to Property” and was released on a copy of the charges.

The next day, Officers met with Dean Stein and decided to delay charging the student pending an investigation by the Office of Student Integrity.

History of the “T”

The first “T” was stolen from Tech Tower by a group of students who wanted to present it to retiring President Dr. Edwin Harrison for guiding Tech peacefully through the turbulence of the 1960s and the desegregation of campus.

Since then, the tradition has, to the administration’s dismay, expanded and grown to taking T’s from all over campus as well as the 5 ft. T’s off of Tech Tower. The feat had not been accomplished in recent years as it had been officially prohibited by Institute President G. Wayne Clough in 1999 when a Tech visitor was accidentally killed while climbing the Alexander Memorial Coliseum.

This month, The Tower Undergraduate Research Journal released the print version of Volume VI, Issue I. According to Mohammad Ali Naija, Editor in Chief of the Tower, this is arguably the most significant volume of The Tower released to date as it is the inaugural issue of their article exchange program with the MIT Undergraduate Research Journal (MURJ).

“The goal at least behind this collaboration is to promote undergraduate research endeavors between both institutes and to further collaborations between MIT and Georgia Tech … We’re hoping this will further foster collaborations and research experience for undergraduates,” said Ali Naija.

With this first article exchange, contributors from both Tech and MIT hope that the partnership will continue on in subsequent semesters.

“I think the partnership that we have between MIT and Georgia Tech is pretty strong as it is. The reason we reached out to them is because our journals share very similar core values. Open Access, Blind Peer Review, Emphasis on showcasing promoting and inspiring undergraduate research,” said Ali Naija.

Both editorial boards had been in discussion for the last two years, but nothing had been formalized until this past summer when all were able to meet face to face to formalize a publishing agreement where they exchange one article from each submission pool to publish in the opposite journal.

Due to this new article exchange as well as The Tower being accepted into the Library of Congress over the summer this has been one of the most competitive issues for the Tower, as well. This is reflected in the acceptance rate for article submissions of 38 percent, the lowest in years because the number of submissions had gone up from previous years.

Tech had two authors featured in MURJ in this inagural article exchange. Helen Li, a third-year ECE major, is the first author on the publication “Crosslinking of a positive-tone, polynorbornene dielectric.”

Zach Pritchard, a fifth-year double major in ChBE and BMED, is a co-author on the Li paper while his current research is focused on improving microelectronics packaging and fabrication.

The authors were chosen this year based on manuscripts that shared research and collaboration between the two schools. The MIT article featured in The Tower was part of emerging behaviors in Biomedical Engineering, titled “Sythesis of Polypeptides for Hydrogel Scaffolds,” and written by Kiara Cui, Macknzi Martin and Paula T. Hammond, PhD.

According to Ali Naija, this may change moving forward to simply be what articles are the best representation of each school rather than those already involved with partnerships between the two schools.

Moving forward, The Tower hopes the entire staff will be able to build on their recent successes and continue to grow as a whole.

“I definitely attribute a lot of the success to the staff because they’ve done a great job in getting the content, reviewing the content and implementing ideas. We’ve highlighted a few authors from last semester but typically the authors that are published in the journal perform astoundingly either downstream academic careers, graduate schools, postdoc, industry or government jobs,” Ali Naija said.

Starting on April 8th, Cherry St. through Ferst Dr. up to the Transit Hub will be closed down for steam line replacement and streetscaping projects. These construction projects will keep the streets closed through at least Oct. 1st with the possibility to go until the end of that month which will also cause vehicles including Stingers to reroute around Tech Parkway until the completion of this construction.

The multi-phase project actually began in March, when the parking lot next to the bus turnaround on Ferst Dr. was closed for construction.

According to John DuConge, Senior Construction Project Manager, the Steam Line replacement portion will include underground utility work to support some of the buildings on Cherry Street like the Guggenheim Building and will continue on down to the Tech Trolley Turnaround area which will remain unaffected.

While the Streetscaping portion will include repaving sidewalks on Cherry St. and Ferst Dr. as well as planting new trees in some areas along the street and overall improving the aesthetics of the streets.

The schedule will continue on through April with Ferst Dr. being closed to vehicular traffic from the bus turnaround between the Student Center and Weber Building to the Cherry Street. There will still be limited pedestrian access on Ferst Drive during construction. Cherry Street will remain open to pedestrian traffic but will be closed to vehicular access except for construction vehicles, GT service vehicles and emergency vehicles.

Between April 28 and May 2 construction in this area will go “quiet” for exam week and will be limited to work that is considered reasonably non-disruptive to adjacent buildings with closed windows. The same will happen during exam periods during the summer semester as construction will continue on until completion in October and November.

With all of the road closures in this area, Parking and Transportation will be rerouting buses that are regularly coming through the area as well.

“In essence, they’re being shifted out to Tech Parkway. That’s the easiest way to explain it,” said David Christ, Transportations Operations Manager.

With their normal routes closed down for five or six months the Red Route, Blue Route, Green Route and Midnight Rambler will all be re-routed out to Tech Parkway with their normal directional service but new temporary stops until construction has ended.

The Red Route will continue running clockwise with three new stops at a Marta bus stop in front of the President’s Lot on North Avenue, a stop on Tech Parkway adjacent to the Weber Building and a third stop on Tech Parkway adjacent to the walkway leading to the Student Center.

The Blue route will continue in the opposite direction with only two new stops, one across the street from the walkway to the student center on Tech Parkway at State St. and the other at the Marta Bus Shelter in front of the Parking Deck next to the Alumni House on North Avenue.

The Green route will not be affected on its return route but will have a stop with the blue route at the State St. intersection on Tech Parkway.

The Midnight Rambler will reroute on to Tech Parkway as well with no stops on its route there.

While the Tech Trolleys will remain unaffected during this time period, the rest of the Transit Hub will not be operational.

PTS will be putting out signs in the near future notifying the campus community of these route changes as well as pointing out exactly where these temporary stops will be.

“We’re also working with GTPD to regulate the speed limit on Tech Parkway, because there will be more students out there so drivers need to be given a constant heads up that there will be more people using those crosswalks,” said Torise Young, Communications Officer in PTS.

More than 700 students signed up and participated in For the Kids at GT (FTK) annual Dance Marathon on March 1 in O’Keefe Gymnasium. Embodying this years motto, “We stand for those who can’t,” participants helped raise more than $85,000 in support of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) and celebrating the lives of children impacted by them.

According to Drew Keller, Executive Director of FTK this year, their combined efforts allowed fundraising to reach a total of $87,117.29 with after-event donations, which is a 67 percent increase from the previous year. About 60 percent of this total came from individual Tech students fundraising, with 22 percent coming from on-campus fundraisers held by Phi Mu, Phi Gamma Delta and Sigma Chi, and the rest coming from various other donations and fundraisers.

“As long as our organization is around, we’ll have a Dance Marathon every spring,” Keller said.

Dance Marathon is a national movement out of the main office of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals in Salt Lake City. Currently, over 250 universities in the US and Canada have a Dance Marathon, and last year all Dance Marathons raised over $11 million combined.

This year’s Dance Marathon at Tech was the first to run for an entire 12 hours. The day included a number of games, competitions and dances including a “Morale Dance” that participants could learn and which was performed throughout the day. Participants kept busy with all of this as they do not sit down during the entire event to live up to their motto.

“Students love Dance Marathon for a host of reasons, whether we have been impacted personally, want to be a part of something bigger than ourselves or just love a good dance. We can all appreciate the opportunity to see change in our own community,” said Shahzar Mirza, Public Relations Director of FTK.

Every year, FTK tries to get as many of the Miracle Children of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta as they can to come out and attend the event as well since it is being put on for them. Kids like nine-year-old Belle Helton, who was diagnosed with Congenital Nephrotic Syndrome and Kidney Failure; 13-year-old Cade Roberts, who was diagnosed with congenital horseshoe kidneys and internal bleeding; or 11-year-old David Ramos, who has been through two liver transplants all had a chance to come and see all of the support that they have through FTK and the Dance Marathon. The money raised will also help support future care for children like this and more.

Mirza was proud of both the turnout at the event and the support of everyone there.

“I have not been impacted so deeply by any other event on campus. Seeing all of the families thank Tech students and our dancers enjoying themselves as well was amazing. The chance to meet the children impacted by organizations like ours was eye-opening to say the least,” Mirza said.

Discussions about the Confederate Flag and its place in the south began again with the introduction of an updated design for a special license plate which features the flag across its width. The previous design, which had been available since 2003, featured the same flag in a corner of the plate and also faced resistance. According to an NPR article titled “Georgia Clears The Road For Confederate-Themed License Plate” by Adam Ragusea, the submitters of the design are from the Georgia chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. According to the same article, their spokesman Ray McBerry said, “We did anticipate that there could be some folks who would not like that, but we encourage them to go and make an application for their own specialty plates.”

The problem isn’t having a specialty plate; it’s the history that comes behind the Confederate flag and the message it will continue to send. To me, the flag itself will always represent a history of racism, injustice and oppression. It’s time to let the Confederate flag die and to find a new symbol for southern pride.

The problem comes from the origins of the Confederacy. As much as supporters will try to deny it to this day, the reasons for southern states seceding from the Union was the institution of slavery. States like South Carolina, Georgia and Mississippi all laid this out in plain language in the 1860’s.

In 1956, Governor Marvin Griffin signed into law House Bill No. 98, which incorporated the Confederate battle flag into the state flag. Governor Griffin was quoted that year saying, “There will be no mixing of the races in the public schools and college classrooms of Georgia anywhere or at any time as long as I am governor.” These actions continue to send a clear message of what the Confederate flag meant and still means to many Southerners.

Throughout the 1960s, both support and opposition of the Confederate flag grew. As civil rights activists carried the American flag to remind the public of the ideals of freedom and equality, segregationists flew the Confederate flag to defend the “Southern way of life.” The notion that this is a representation of any way of life is a problem in my eyes.

Even today, the symbol is used in a negative manner. Earlier this month, the FBI aided in the investigation of a vandalized a statue of James Meredith at the University of Mississippi. University police had found the statue of Meredith, who was the first black student to enroll in the then all-white southern college in 1962, with a rope noose and a pre-2003 Georgia State flag with the Confederate “Stars and Bars” on its face.

I won’t deny that this symbol is something that will probably remain prevalent in the south. However, calling it a point of pride lets me know that you do find pride in its history and I will never support that. It is past time for this flag to be retired for good.

Stamps Health Services introduced Sports Medicine to its Silver Clinic this week as a new option for care and treatment for patients this semester.

According to Dr. Angelo Galante, who will be the primary provider of this clinic, the Sports Medicine Clinic will “provide more specialized care for musculoskeletal injuries to the entire student body.”

He hopes that the opening of this clinic will also free up appointments in other clinics, as injuries of this nature can be treated in the Sports Medicine Clinic.

Galante is board-certified in family practice with a certificate of added qualification in sports medicine. He has served as a team physician at Tech since 1997 and is the head primary care physician for athletics.

Galante assured that his new work with the Sports Medicine clinic will not interfere at all with his work with athletes on campus but would make this same care available to the entire student body.

“The Silver clinic was primarily built to expand patient access to primary care. Although we have always provided care for sports related injuries, we thought it might be helpful for Dr. Galante to focus his talents entirely on his specialty of sports medicine two half days per week within the Silver clinic,” said Dr. Gregory Moore, Senior Director of Stamps Health Services.

The concept of the sports medicine clinic is still brand new and described as being in an experimental phase, but all of those involved are excited to see where this will go in the future.

According to Dr. Maureen Olson, Medical Director of Stamps Health Services, appointments have been filled up in the first week of operations. She and Galante expressed hope that this means the clinic will continue to be received well and utilized by the campus community, which could one day mean future expansion of the clinic and the addition of more trainers and physicians to better provide specialized care for students.

The Sports Medicine Clinic is open Mondays and Thursdays from 1:15 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.