The Aquinas 2011-09-22

              NOTABLE QUOTABLE
BUSINESS CLUB
PLANS EXPO
Companies line up to
recruit on campus. (10 )
Volume 85, Issue 2
The Student Voice of The University of Scranton Thursday, September 22, 2011
INSIDE Forum............5-7
Arts & Life...8-9
Business.....10-11
Sci & Tech........12
Campus Notes......2
News....................3-4
Faith............13
Leisure.......14
Sports............15-16 WEATHER Tonight: Mostly
Cloudy Low of 40.
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Persistent construction disrupts campus life
University inaugurates Rev. Quinn to presidency
In his Inaugural Address, Rev.
Kevin P. Quinn, S.J., spoke about
religion and culture, love of God
and how service is a component
of it all.
The University community cel-ebrated
the Inauguration of its
25th president in the Byron Recre-ation
Complex Friday.
Rev. Kevin P. Quinn, S.J., cele-brated
his Inauguration ceremony
with delegates, honored guests,
faculty, staff, students, friends
and family.
After the guest speakers passed
along welcoming and encourag-ing
words to Rev. Quinn, the in-stallation
and investiture of the
president began.
Rev. Quinn was entrusted with
various symbols of the presiden-tial
office. He was presented with
the charter of The University by
member of the Board of Trustees
Karen L. Pennington, Ph.D., the
presidential medallion by member
of the Board of Trustees Paula K.
Barrett and the mace by former
president of The University and
current president of Marquette
University, Rev. Scott R. Pilarz, S.J.
Rev. Quinn then gave his Inau-guration
speech to The University
community.
“Today we celebrate The Uni-versity
of Scranton with this fes-tal
gathering, marking a dramatic
intersection of the past with the
future, of our traditions and ac-complishments,
with our hopes
and aspirations,” Rev. Quinn said.
“That is why we are here.”
In his speech, Rev. Quinn ad-dressed
what it means to say that
Scranton is a 21st century Jesuit
university in North America.
“We must ask ourselves wheth-er
our students deepen their sense
of wonder and curiosity, cultivate
their ideals, widen their under-standing
of human life and their
sympathy for others,” Rev. Quinn
said.
“Does the education we offer
enable them to learn how to best
ordain their lives, what is best
for themselves and what is good
for other men and women?”
Rev. Quinn said that the choices
we are making are what lead us to
the ideal of service that has been
set forth by the Gospel.
Quoting the Book of Matthew,
“Whoever will be great among
you, must be your servant,” Rev.
Quinn said.
In his Inaugural address, Rev.
Quinn also reflected upon how,
as a community, The University
would follow the lead of St. Igna-tius
Loyola, S.J.
Rev. Quinn believes that The
University should challenge
its students to accept St. Igna-tius’
notion of service, to love
and serve in all things, as their
own.
This is the reason Inauguration
week began with the Celebration
of Service. With more than 750
students, faculty and staff volun-teering,
Rev. Quinn said that we
are taking the service component
of St. Ignatius’ mission very seri-ously.
Rev. Quinn continued his
speech by outlining that the edu-cation
at a Jesuit university should
be engaged, integrated and bold.
See “QUINN,” Page 14
by Christina sculy
News Editor
the aquinas photo/peter portanova
REV. QUINN speaks at his Inauguration Ceremony Friday. He
discussed service and his goals for The University.
Students say they are growing
impatient with ongoing inconve-niences
and safety issues relating
to the new student apartments
on Mulberry Street across from
the DeNaples Center.
Students are settling into their
new homes, but not without
some structural glitches. Stu-dents
report that recent storms
caused water to gush and puddle
in the staircase on the Monroe
Avenue side of the West building,
Pilarz Hall. During the first week
of classes, students also reported
melted pipes after running their
dishwashers. Residence assis-tants
said in an email to students
that the problem stemmed from
closed shut-off valves near the
dishwasher units.
“The outlets in my living room
still don’t work and it took three
weeks for someone to come in-stall
blinds in my room,” Chris-tina
Kraker, a senior resident in
Pilarz Hall, said.
A form letter welcomed stu-dents
into the new apartments
in late August and gave general
time frames for construction
completion on both buildings,
but no further information has
been supplied to residents since
week one. However, a flyer dis-played
in and around the weight
room facilities in the Byron Cen-ter
indicates that all physical
education classes will be moved
into the new fitness center Oct.
19. With this date set, whether
the rest of the student body can
use the facilities at that time re-mains
unclear.
“My weight lifting class is
moving into the new fitness cen-ter
Oct. 19 and the old weight
room is getting closed. I’m as-suming
that means the new fit-ness
center will be open to the
whole University at that point,
but no one is totally sure,” Mat-thew
Craig, a senior resident in
Pilarz Hall, said.
Security is also a major con-cern
of residents. There is only
swipe access to the front doors in
each building, yet students con-tinue
to enter and exit through
all other doors on the building.
“The side door is constantly
propped open. It scares me that
anyone can walk right in. I went
to Public Safety about it and
think we need to make it a swipe
access door or install cameras
back there,” Kraker said.
Mulberry St. is one of the busi-est
corridors in Scranton, con-gesting
daily due to traffic to and
from Interstate 81, ambulance
transport to the hospitals in the
Hill Section and extended peri-ods
of University construction
vehicles blocking one or more
lanes. Community members and
students who utilize some of the
project’s newest amenities will
be pleased with its completion.
“I purposely chose to live in
the new apartment because it
is right above the gym. I am re-ally
looking forward to using it,”
Kraker said.
The buildings, which nearly
396 students call home, accord-ing
to The University’s Residence
Life web page, will be home to a
new food court area in the East
and fitness center in the West.
Construction began more than
one year ago and students are
beginning to wonder when it
will end.
“I have had some near misses
with cars flying down Mulberry,
especially at night,” Ken Dubs, a
senior, said.
Ken Dubs is an off-campus
resident who used to cross from
DeNaples Center and walk up
Hitchcock court to his house on
Vine. He said that it is a pain
for students like him who have
to walk through that corridor.
Many students who used to walk
through it now avoid it com-pletely.
But, for the students who
live in the Mulberry Apartment
complex, there is no feasible al-ternate
route.
Students say their safety while
walking on the paths surround-ing
the construction is a major is-sue.
Barriers prevent pedestrians
from walking on the west side of
Quincy Ave, east side of Monroe
and the entire sidewalk in front
of the east building. A concrete
gauntlet topped with orange
construction fencing is the main
walking entrance, accessible only
at the eastern corner of Monroe
Avenue and Mulberry.
“I live in Mulberry East and
this cross walk is completely
dangerous and a huge inconve-nience,”
Steve Nicolosi, a junior
Nursing major, said. “Cars zoom
past the ‘yield, state law’ sign in
the middle of the road. It may
have to take someone getting
hit before anyone does anything
about this.”
Though crews crafted the bar-rier
to offer added safety to the
See “CROSSING,” Page 14
BIDEN COMES
TO PITTSTON
Vice president visits
recent flood victims. (3 )
By michael zaydon
Managing Editor
Inconveniences overshadow
the glamour of newest
apartments on campus
the aquinas photo/peter portanova
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS walk in safety pathway past construction on Mulberry Street. The corri-dor
is only accessible through one entrance (above), causing inconveniences and safety concerns.
Students concerned with
pedestrian safety at
Mulberry crosswalk
JESUIT EXAMEN RETURNS
TO UNIVERSITY
Students follow Jesuit
tradition of reflection. (13)