News Briefs
DAPER Summer Fees Now Permanent
The Department of Athletics, Physical Education, and Recreation has announced that last summer’s $40 access fee will now be permanent — the fee will continue for summer 2008. DAPER charged students an access fee for the first time last summer. Previously, access to DAPER facilities had been free for all students year-round.
Julie Soriero, the head of DAPER, announced the change on Wednesday. Soriero’s announcement came after meeting that day with representatives from the Club Sports Council and the Graduate Student Council.
The fee had previously been published in DAPER’s IAP/Spring Program Guide available earlier this week, but Soriero said that publication had not been intended as a commitment and discussion of removing the fee had continued after publication.
According to Mireille K. Akilian G, the GSC treasurer and a member of the DAPER advisory board, GSC representatives were not surprised by the decision to keep the fee in place. Akilian said that the GSC wanted to make sure they knew about the fee well in advance of the summer, so they could include it in their cost of living estimates. Last year, most students did not find out about the fee until well into the spring semester.
DAPER’s advisory board met on Tuesday, prior to the announcement of the fee, but did not discuss the fee. Professor Robert J. Hansman, chair of the board, said that while the board does not have the authority to approve fees, “it is a forum for discussion.” No one raised the issue to the board, Hansman said.
—John A. Hawkinson
Asbestos Board Found in Stata
An asbestos-contaminated board was found in the basement of the Stata Center earlier this week.
“Someone abandoned a piece of equipment on the Stata docks,” said Gary A. Saffie, assistant operations manager for Stata. Saffie said that the board probably originated from a laboratory. Dock areas “become a dumping group for everybody’s junk and they don’t dispose of it the right way,” Saffie said.
The asbestos was “not friable,” Saffie said, meaning it was not easily crumbled into smaller pieces. Friable asbestos is a regulated material.
“We’re having a contractor come in to take it away,” Saffie said. Room 32-028 in the Stata Center basement will be closed next Wednesday, Dec. 12, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., for the “abatement of 20 square feet of asbestos contaminated board,” according to an e-mail notification.
—Arkajit Dey