Jericho Shackelford

In the past week, student-run organization Green Alfred has received two of Alfred Universities most highly coveted awards: an Alfie, for outstanding educational program, and the award given by student senate for Club of the Year.

The club kicked off fall semester 2009 with a concert and "go green" rally featuring earth-friendly band Revision and their vegetable oil powered tour van. Since the inaugural event the club has been dedicated to spreading awareness and action across campus.

Alfred University is undergoing the prudent process of restructuring the general education curriculum for its College of Liberal arts and Sciences.

The initiative to review the general education requirements within Alfred University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences began shortly after Dean Mary McGee took her position as Dean of CLAS in 2008.

Recently I had the pleasure of interviewing political science professor Jeff Sluyter-Beltrao.

Titles of books entwined his office space. Ideas columned and rowed collectively stuffed into wall height bookshelves insulated his room, save for those places designated for work; two paper laden desks, a couple of chairs and mess.

We sandwiched our conversation between the entropy and he began to articulate bits of his history.

Communication studies professor Robyn Goodman made time for an interview last week. As she noted, it was a rare opportunity for her to be on the opposite side of the conversation.

As a communication studies professor, Goodman is the only professor in the division with a background in journalism; an attribute that has served students, colleagues, and "Fiaters" for the last 15 years here at Alfred University.

Construction projects in Binns-Merill and Harder halls began with controversy. Art and design students lost senior show spaces and Harder Hall staff lost the luxury of windows or, in some cases, their entire offices. Meanwhile the Alfred University community gained a large fence which bisects academic alley.

Approximately two and a half years from now, the outcome of this springtime construction project should be profitable for the colleges of engineering and art and design. Presently the entire university is trialing through the complications construction has caused.

Alfred University’s statutory colleges, the School of Art and Design and Inamori School of Engineering, have begun work on multiple campus-wide construction projects--the most visible of these being McGee Pavilion, an extension to Harder Hall.

Work on McGee Pavilion, a $10,000,000, 1700 sq ft addition to Harder Hall, broke ground on Thursday, April 1. New York State Senate, beginning with the efforts of senator Mary McGee and ending with then Senate majority leader Joe Bruno, earmarked money for the addition as part of an agreement brokered by AU patron Kazuo Inamori.

Within Alfred University’s student community The Women’s Leadership Center is often addressed in polarized tones. Many students have had or have heard of exceptional achievements coming out of the building and its sponsored projects. While others feel accessibility is nominally and therefore innately inhibited.

However it is commonly stated that people are most skeptical of those things they understand least. Hopefully the following facts will dispel any harbored fictions.

The following is not the product of haste, pride, or preservation of my character. It is an explication upon what I believe to be true.

The night began with promise, beats blasted the seats of Holmes auditorium as the anticipatory procession filed in. Scene one was “Genesis,” a portrait of fashion inspired by nature. Scene two, "One's trash is another's fashion," moved from leaves to leftovers as it exhibited a marvelous dress made from coffee filters. Another design was constructed from strewn together diapers and another was composed of newspapers.

The student host was forced to prove her dynamic abilities to an audience who erupted raucously at the sight of each familiar face.

In its twelfth year running, the Pine Hill Derby is faced with its final scene. The possibility of the derby’s denouement has been attributed to the restructuring of the first year engineering courses. With the recent budget cuts, the engineering program may lose its requisite derby cars.