Month: October 2012

A sea of pink will engulf Vernon Worthen Park on Nov. 3 as the Support Love Courage Council brings PinkDot Utah to St. George.

According to a press release from the Support Love Courage Council, St. George was selected as the second city for the event because of acceptance levels toward the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. PinkDot Utah will take place between 11:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. 

This year will be the first event, and eventually the Support Love Courage Council hopes to expand to all areas of Utah. The event will include speakers, a potluck picnic and the main event: the formation of a human pink dot.

The Dixie State College Gay-Straight Alliance Club will be attending the PinkDot Utah event to show its support in the community.

The GSA has been a club on campus since 2007. Matt Smith-Lahrman, head of the sociology department, has been the adviser of the club for two years now. He said students have become a lot more open about who they are on campus.

“This is a tough place to be gay or lesbian,” Smith-Lahrman said. “I think we’re getting some students who are proud of who they are.”

Members of the club said they generally feel accepted on campus now that the club has been around for a while. Jennifer Gibson, a sophomore elementary education major from Las Vegas, said there have been problems in the past but nothing recent.

“I’ve heard things [in the past] about how some people would try to underhandedly undermine the events now and then,” Gibson said.

Shanell Johnson, a senior communication major from San Diego, said the GSA exists as a resource for students who may feel unaccepted.

“If anyone is questioning themselves, we have resources here,” Johnson said. “If anyone is confused, or anything, then GSA would be the place to go whether it’s about sexuality, their gender, anything.”

Gibson added on as well.

She said, “Even if you don’t want to come to meetings, we know of people you can talk to: hotlines, counselors, all sorts of things.”

The GSA has put on events throughout the semester. For the most recent one, in honor of National Coming Out Day, they constructed a full-size closet on campus and had people walk in and out.

Johnson said the main event they have coming up will be a candlelight vigil for Transgender Remembrance Day. The official day is Nov. 23, but the GSA is holding its event on Nov. 16 before the Thanksgiving break.  She said it will most likely be held in the amphitheater on campus just after dark.

The GSA holds meetings every Monday at 3:30 p.m.

Controlling building temperatures on campus may not be rocket science, but it’s more complicated than you might think.

Dixie Sun News polled 106 students via text message and 28 faculty members via email about their opinion of building temperatures on campus.  

The poll consisted of four options: cold, just right, hot or depends on the day. The results leaned a bit chilly.

In response to the question, 40 students responded “just right,” 38 responded “cold,” 14 responded “hot,” and 14 responded “depends on the day.”

Most of the more detailed and opinionated responses were about classes being too cold.

Brittany Hammontree, a junior biology major from Pahrump Valley, Nev., said, “If I could compare [classroom temperatures] to one thing, then it would be an ice box.”

The faculty’s results paralleled the students’ results.

In response to the question, 10 faculty members responded “just right,” 13 responded “cold,” three responded “hot,”  and two responded “depends on the day.”

Eric Young, assistant professor of communication, wrote, in response to the poll, that his building temperature is like a “meat locker.”

Other teachers expressed their building temperatures to be too hot.

“[This building’s temperatures] are out of control,” wrote art professor Glen Blakley. “They need to redo the [air conditioning] system in the North Plaza.”

Controlling the building temperatures requires more than just turning up a thermostat; it deals with money and government mandates. 

According to an executive order from former Gov. Michael Leavitt issued on June 21, 2001, building temperatures must be in the limits of certain mandated temperatures. 

“Heat will be set at a maximum of 72 degrees during scheduled occupancy and 69 degrees for unoccupied times,” according to Dixie State College’s Campus Services’ temperature policy. “The summer temperatures will be 75 degrees during scheduled occupancy and 80 degrees when the building is not scheduled.” 

If the buildings are required to stay within those temperature boundaries, then why are some students and faculty uncomfortable with the building temperatures? 

Facilities Operations Director Doug Whitehead and Kerry Dillenbeck, heating, ventilation and air conditioning specialist, have the answer: thermostat problems.

“Every time we add on to a building…we changed the design and balance of it,” Whitehead said. “It makes a difference how the air flows; how the [thermostat] senses.”

The underlying problem is that thermostat positions control the temperatures of areas that it doesn’t even sense. This causes a heating or cooling unbalance. 

“If you have a lady bring in a heater; she warms up her section,” Whitehead said. “And if that’s the section the thermostat is in, then that tells the thermostat ‘Hey, I’m warm in here. Call more cooling.’ Her heaters will raise up the thermostat to try and cool it down, and these other two offices are freezing to death because she has a heater running.”

Thermostat issues are apparent in three buildings, if not more. 

North Instructional

The North Instructional building used to be an institute for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Whitehead said the building has been added on to since he has been at DSC and that has caused thermostat unbalance. 

“[The NIB] is our worst one because they started out with more open spaces and they started petitioning them off to make classrooms and offices,” Whitehead said. “The thermostat may be down 35 feet from where some of those offices are. It’s never going to get any sense out of that room.”

The upper-level classrooms in the north part of the NIB are controlled by the thermostat which is in the basement or downstairs area.

“The lower area is naturally going to be colder so that satisfies, and then these guys have classrooms with mega people in it and they get hot,” Dillenbeck said.

Jennings

Whitehead said the Jennings’ system is fighting itself because brand new electronic controls are basically looking at a system that used to be a pneumatic system, or air-driven. 

Also, he said when the building was remodeled, they separated large rooms into smaller rooms.     

This caused three to six offices to be on one central sensor that controls all of the offices. 

Whitehead said the problem with the Jennings remodel was that the planners were more concerned with the aesthetic design than mechanical design. 

“They want to make [renovated buildings] look beautiful, but they don’t think of the functionality of it and how the buildings are going to work heating and cooling-wise,” Dillenbeck said. “The Jennings got some upgrades, but not everything.”

Udvar-Hazy

Whitehead said multiple rooms in the Udvar-Hazy have computers in them that were never intended to have computers.         

“Every time we go into a classroom and we see computers, if there is one student sitting there [at a computer], then that is two extra students they didn’t design the room for,” Dillenbeck said.

Whitehead said some rooms designed for 30 people can easily have the heat of 80 to 90 people from the electrical equipment.

Working with the remodeled buildings is a challenge.

“When you are dealing with these old buildings, sometimes it’s pretty tough,” Dillenbeck said. “We try to do what we can in that particular situation, but it is hard to keep everyone happy.”

With the continued growth of Dixie State College, plans to gain university status are underway—as are procedures to change the name of the institution.

One of the measures in achieving higher status will take place at the campus town hall meeting Nov. 1. Faculty, staff, students and alumni are invited to attend the meeting and share possible ideas of what the name of the college will be for future generations. The meeting will be held in the Gardner Center Ballroom at 7 p.m.

An additional meeting will be held for interested community members at the Community Arts Center, 86 S. Main St., on Nov. 29 at 7 p.m.

Johnson said not only is the meeting going to be informative, but it will also be interactive, and those who attend the meeting are encouraged to share their input.

“Thursday’s campus meeting will serve as an opportunity for students, faculty, staff and alumni to discuss the naming options the college has as we continue the transition to university status,” Johnson said.

DSC officials have partnered with the St. George firm of Sorenson Advertising as part of the process to change the name.

“Part of the reason why we partnered with Sorenson Advertising is we’re going to use their impartial expertise in research and fact-finding capabilities to help us analyze the data that is gathered from all of the institution’s stakeholders,” Johnson said. “Once all of this research and data is analyzed, the information will be presented to President Nadauld and our board of trustees for their consideration and final decision.”

The majority of community members who have always lived in southern Utah know the area as Dixie, and a number of these people have worried feelings about the “Dixie” being taken out of the name.

Brandy Salisbury, a junior education major from Washington, said it won’t be the same if “Dixie” is not a part of the institution’s name.

“Keeping it Dixie would be more beneficial for the community,” she said.

Jessica Barson, a freshman nursing major from Springville, asked, “What does (the word) ‘Dixie’ mean?”

She was interested in knowing why there has been so much controversy in the word, but she said “Dixie” should definitely remain in the changed name.

Although community members might not be happy with “Dixie” leaving the name, people who have lived outside of the area see controversy in the connotation the word gives.

Sociology professor Matt Smith-Lahrman said there is heated controversy between locals and non-locals.

“If we’re going to be a university, we want to attract people outside of Utah,” he said.

For those outside of Utah, the “Dixie” in Dixie State College might be mistaken as a reference to the confederacy.

Smith-Lahrman would like to know if “Dixie” is staying in the name. He had a number of questions he would like to ask at the town hall meeting. One in particular was, “Is it a done deal, as far as keeping ‘Dixie’ in the name?”

He said it seems as if the decision has already been made by administrators and trustees, so he’s interested in knowing if people’s input is still worthwhile.

Johnson said public input will indeed be beneficial as Nadauld and the board of trustees need “the most amount of information possible so they can make the best decision for the institution.”

“We are lending voices and we are listening to every constituency of our campus,” Johnson said. “We’re not going to turn a blind eye or a blind ear to anybody if they have an opinion about something, and that’s why we brought in Sorenson Advertising. They were brought in to be an independent, third-party, unbiased entity in this endeavor.”

Johnson said the unveiling of the name will take place either July 1, 2013, or Sept. 19, 2013, the latter marking DSC’s 102 birthday.  He said the push is for July 1, but because a majority of students won’t be in class during summer semester, the formal celebration of gaining university status will likely be Sept. 19, so more students will be able to be a part of the event.