This just in from Geoff Larcom:
Halle Library is closed for the rest of today (Monday, Jan. 16) due to a major water pipe break in the basement. This closure also includes the IT Help Desk. Anyone needing to report a critical IT issue before 5 p.m. today can call the IT Office at Pray-Harrold at 7-3141.
The status of the library will be updated later today or early Tuesday.
Oh-oh. And this is not the first somewhat suspicious water pipe break incident in that building, either.
Posted in Buildings and Grounds
From the freep.com comes “Michigan’s public universities see 24% increase in ‘unrestricted’ net assets.” Maybe it’s just me, but this seems to be a pretty muddled and confusing article to me. It seems to be saying that public universities in Michigan have a lot of extra cash on hand, but then it points out that this extra “unrestricted” money is being used for one-time expenses. In fact, the picture leading this story is of the renovated Pray-Harrold.
So maybe it’s my simplistic sense of money, but I am not completely seeing what the point is here.
I will say two things though. First, remodeling/renovating Pray-Harrold has been in the work for years and years, certainly over more than one budget cycle. And I also don’t think you’re going to find anyone on campus who thinks that the work that was done was somehow frivolous, as I think the article is implying. Second, I suspect that this argument will come back this year in contract negotiations, as well it should.
I had to run an errand up at school today and on the way out of Pray-Harrold, I noticed this. That’s a tree down between Porter and Pray-Harrold, I presume from those nasty winds we had the other day. Hopefully, it’ll get cleaned up before Monday.
Posted in Buildings and Grounds
From the Eastern Echo comes “Asbestos concerns.” In my opinion, this is an article that “buries the lead” as they say in the journalism business, but basically, it would appear that there is some kind of asbestos problem in Pitman Hall and the information campaign about this hasn’t exactly been smart and savvy. Here’s a quote:
Ellen Bernard, EMU’s Environmental Health and Safety Specialist in Snow Health Center thinks asbestos is just part of life. When questioned about whether or not there was, in fact, asbestos in the building Bernard dismissed the subject.
“So? There is asbestos in a whole lot of buildings on this campus,” Bernard said.
She then went on to say she would not discuss asbestos and walked away.
Answers like Bernard’s haven’t eased any fear in Pittman residents who have noticed the yellow asbestos ‘caution tape.’
And the article goes from there.
Now, it is true that asbestos in tiles and such is okay if left undisturbed. That said, it seems to me that EMU probably owes students in the dorms a bit more of an explanation and concern than this.
… not much happened, as far as I can tell. Here’s a link to a Freep story about it; anyone there and/or hear anything else?
By the way, as far as the argument goes about transparency and state money and taxes and all of that: I think that EMU did what it was obligated and should have done, and that’s that. According to the Freep, B.L.A.C.K. paid 400 bucks for a plane ticket for Kilpatrick to speak and that was about it. Big deal.
Furthermore, my concern as a professor would be to find out where the line is for this “call for transparency” and/or “accountability.” For example, if I teach something in a class suggesting that maybe a communist-style state might not be such a bad idea, that we ought to heed the protests of the “Occupy” movements and consider systematic ways of redistributing wealth in this country, am I going to be called out because I’m teaching controversial issues on the tax dollar’s dime? I would hope not. So, while I’m no supporter of Kilpatrick, I don’t see what exactly is different about him coming in and talking about second chances and about how he was treated unfairly and all the rest.
Oh, there was one thing about the Freep story I didn’t get:
Kilpatrick did not address in specifics his current troubles. He is facing federal public corruption charges. He’s pled not guilty to those.
He walked away from a press conference following the speech when questions were raised about those charges and about allegations he had taken a $10,000 bribe in a bathroom.
Is this an old charge or is this something new?
One thing I suggested here yesterday that I am pretty sure turns out to be false: the flood water incident probably wasn’t sewage, which is what I had originally heard. That’s the good news. The bad news is it looks pretty bad.
After the continued part, I include VP for Communication Walter Kraft’s full email he sent around earlier today. Right after I received that message, I went up to my office and took a look around and a few pictures. Here’s a link to the whole set of photos if you want to see it.
First off, it’s never a good sign to see a “catastrophic cleaning” truck parked out front. But on the plus-side, I was expecting some sort of sewage/poo-like smell and I didn’t get that. I didn’t get any kind of wet/mildewy smell either. So that’s all good.
But it looks like the water damage was pretty extensive. Half of the second floor was closed off, the rest rooms on the first floor were roped off, and the writing center is completely closed. And it looks like it might be closed for a while. This picture (which someone else took– this was all roped off from me) is the ceiling on the floor, which is not where it belongs. Hard to say when that is going to be open again.
I also think the last sentence of Kraft’s release is kind of telling here: ”The cause of the water leak, which originated in a ceiling sprinkler head in the men’s bathroom on the second floor, remains under investigation.” Those are some interesting lines to read between.
Posted in Buildings and Grounds, Security and Safety
Communications VP Walter Kraft sent around an email today about how the library was closed due to a sprinkler problem, one that was expected to be fixed yet tonight. I have no idea what is or isn’t actually the case, but I heard from a couple of different people that by “sprinkler,” he must mean “sewage,” and that the problem is a more poo-like one.
But like I said, I don’t know. Anybody out there with more immediate knowledge?
I am not quite sure what the deal is with the library’s plumbing, but this is not the first water problem that’s been in that building. As I understand it, there was a pretty bad (and expensive) mold problem in the auditorium in the basement that was the result of some kind of water leak. Hopefully, someone with a plunger can solve this one.
Posted in Buildings and Grounds, EMU Events
It sure seems like there’s a lot of excitement at annarbor.com for the Bob Seger concert coming up on Wednesday. Take, for example, this annarbor.com piece, “Bob Seger reflects on growing up in Ann Arbor, looks forward to concert at EMU,” which is a Q&A interview with Seger on growing up in Ann Arbor, etc., etc.
I guess this is a big deal, but I have to say I am missing something. Seger isn’t exactly my kind of music even as a kind of “oldies” option– I wish I would have been able to go and see the Iggy Pop show at the Michigan Theater instead. But I guess there are people excited about this, right?
Posted in Buildings and Grounds, College Fun, In the media...
A loyal EMUTalk.org reader sent me this link to a Huffington Post article last week, “Censoring Joss Whedon’s Firefly and the Chancellor Who Cried Wolf.” It’s an article worth reading but I don’t think there’s a good quote that sums it up, so I’ll try to do so myself:
A professor at the University of Wisconsin-Stout named James Miller put up a self-made poster referencing the show Firefly, one that is sort of an inside joke with the text “You don’t know me, son, so let me explain this to you once: If I ever kill you, you’ll be awake. You’ll be facing me. And you’ll be armed.” I suppose that could be threatening, but again, in the context of a TV show, maybe not.
Anyway, the campus cops freaked out, removed the poster, and told the professor that if he did it again, he’d be charged with disorderly conduct, no matter what the first amendment might say. So a few days later, he put up this poster:
This poster too was torn down, the campus cops thought this was a threat too, and– if that weren’t bad enough– all the suits at UW Stout stood by this decision.
Anyway, read the article. My three reactions:
When I came into school this morning, there was a Pray-Harrold dedication ceremony going on in the student commons/Eagle Cafe area. So I thought I’d share a couple of iPhone pictures and thoughts.
I was too late to get a seat for the festivities even if I wanted one; it was packed:
I’m not sure who is speaking here, but sitting behind that person are members of the Board of Regents and (on the far right) the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Tom Venner. I’m sure great things were said, blah-blah-blah.
Anyway, I was hanging around outside the commons area where there was a table with the photos and these very odd “keepsakes” for today’s event:
That’s a paper fortune teller game of the sort I recall vaguely as a child. You know, you fold this thing up, you put it on your fingers, you pick a number, flick your fingers that many times, and then pull up the fold to find your fortune. For example, under here, you have the fortune “you will be a millionaire” and “the main stage is your future.”
Oh, and the whole thing came in a little “TRUEMU” box. I can’t imagine who signed off on this or why, but I have to say this is about the goofiest marketing promotional thing I’ve ever seen. Doing no promo work at all probably would have been more effective.
Anyway, as I was walking away with my paper fortune teller memento, I snapped this picture of construction that was going on not 30 feet away from the dedication:
Of course there are things that will be works in progress/under construction in Pray-Harrold for a while; I think everyone understands that. But I have to say it is a little strange for there to be a BoR “let’s congratulate ourselves and everyone else for a job well done” sort of ceremony while a construction guy is reattaching a bulletin board in the hallway.
