Tuesday, February 24th, 2015 | TechNews IITPSD updates student escort policy Shireen Gul COPY EDITOR I have lived on campus for a good three semesters, but this semester I decided to move off due to personal reasons and thought commuting on a cold Chicago evening wouldn’t be an issue because we have “my best friend,” IIT Public Safety. But who knew that the moment I moved off—campus, IIT’s Public Safety Department (IITPSD) would decide to update their escort policy, which means no more rides to neighborhood. Sigh, life is tough, especially when you are a commuting student in Chicago. I can totally understand that there might have been some people who misused this escort service, but did IITPSD have to do this in the cold harsh winter of Chicago, where even going from one class to another is a hassle? No, IIT, you can’t do this to us. We love you, and you have to love us back in re- turn, that’s how things work in a relationship. I guess? I am not sure how many of you know about the updated policy for the IIT Main Campus Public Safety Escort Service, so let me walk you through this. As mentioned in IIT Today on Wednesday, February 11: “A Public Safety officer will escort members of the IIT community to any IIT fa- cility on Main Campus if individuals express a significant concern about their personal safety. Security escorts to off—campus locations from Main Campus will also be available, during specific hours, to a limited number of desti- nations. As previously noted, such security escorts are not in lieu of taking public trans- portation or using a taxi/car service.” We have a good population of inter- national students in Illinois Tech, 40 percent, according to myIIT. Not everyone can afford living on campus, because of which they have to look for places in the nearby neighborhood. This means that they have to commute on a daily basis, and in order to commute they have to either walk or take a bus. There are many students who live in places where there are no bus services (such as my place,) due to which, they have to walk in this dark cold winter eve- ning. I know many of you might be thinkin; why don’t they drive? Let me tell you a little secret. We, international students, are not lucky enough to have SSNs as soon as we arrive here because we can’t find on campus jobs in the first place. On the other hand, we are not allowed to work off-campus in the first year. After one year, you can only work in your field—specified places, which makes the choice tougher for us because most of the employers want citizens or permanent residents. As mentioned in IIT Today, “On- campus security escorts may be requested at any time if students, faculty, or staff express a significant concern about their personal safety. Off-campus security escorts are available between the hours of 7 pm. and 3 am. for students, faculty, and staff. If an off- campus security escort is requested outside of these hours, it must be for a specific safety coh— cern and will be considered on a case-by-case basis.” My question is this; what specific safety concerns are they talking about? And what can make the case sensitive? But again, I will say that we are not complaining, all we want is to at least let things work the same way they were working before, in winter only. All the students who are reading this and have any questions, please email me at sgull@hawk.iit. edu because I am trying to arrange an inter- view with the head of IITPSD and find answers to our concerns. Also, please note that HT PSD has activated a new security escort request num- ber: 312.808.6310. So if you have any concern related to escort services, please call this num- ber. MTCC Late Niite meets mixed reviews Shireen Gul COPY EDITOR Once again, Union Board organized MTCC Late Niite and everyone was as excited as always. Unfortunately, this time it was not a huge success. There was a huge crowd of stu- dents, staff, and their friends and family. This year the theme was Willy Won— ka and the Chocolate Factory and they did an awesome job in changing MTCC to a wonder- land. The place looked very beautiful, with all those balloons and Wonka chocolate bars. The event was good and engaging, so was the deco- ration. A few things that disappointed stu- dents were: the oxygen bar, bumping cars, and food Many students complained that the time given to individual students at oxygen bar was extended up to 10 minutes for no reason, the line was too long and many students left be- cause of it. The bumper cars turned out be a huge failure because in the beginning they were not working. Due to this, many students didn’t stop by later on. The poor quality of the cars caused disappointment for those who tried it, the small size of the floor area didn’t help either in making it any fun. Lack of eating options were a huge disappointment to the event, the only “food” options were cupcakes and popcorn at the south entry, the candy station along the front of the radio station, and the elaborate breakfast menu at the Welcome Center, which was great while it lasted. They should have prepared food for more than 50 people, as the supply ran out as soon as they started serving, with many peo- ple left high and dry as there was no food being served anywhere else on the campus. One of the interesting things at the event. was the free t-shirts. which unfortu- nately didn’t last for a long time. It could have been organized better, live printing was a nice idea, but lack of options to choose from made it an unnecessary exercise resulting in mob like gathering, and like any mob, it resulted in some damage as well, as some students reported that their t-shirts were picked up by someone else and they had to leave empty handed. Once again, the photo booth was very successful and had a long line until the end. The students enjoyed the cute props pro- vided to them and made funny and awesome poses for the pictures. Another interesting ac- tivity was the roller skating rink It was a great idea, and very well executed as people skated to different tunes. The two Chocolate Factory movies (Willy Wonka and Charlie) were also aired, the auditorium had the 1971 version and Pritzker club hosted the 2005 adaptation of the story. They were a good sight as they proved tube a good place to sit and relax amongst the may- hem that ran outside. Apart from all these activities, there were also various gaming consoles set up throughout the MTCC. Dance Central on the Xbox proved to be a crowd pleaser, and the gaming consoles from the bygone era provided the crowd with super Mario kart. But some of the consoles were left unattended with no games in them, just an empty console hooked to a large TV, sitting idly in a room. These are the things that could have been taken care of if they had more organizers and better student involvement. The sad part is that not many stu- dents are interesting in helping out, but when things turn out to be bad, they are ready to complain. In the future, if anyone is interested in helping Union Board, please attend their meetings. They take place every Thursday dur- ing lunch break in The Bog, and good news: there will be food. Photos by Katy Banks Ethics Conference eschews rigor for practicality Austin Gonzales OPINION EDITOR This weekend, IIT’s Ethics Bowl flew to sunny Southern California for the APPE conference. APPE is an annual conference put on by the Association for Practical and Profes— sional Ethics. The Conference also hosts the national Ethics Bowl Finals where undergradv uate teams from around the country compete in a debate style Battle~Royale of right and wrong. Conference topics ranged from the manga Oishinbo’s representation of the Fuku- shima disaster, to how to engage millennials in ethical leadership training. The conference consists of several focus group tracks in Iour' nalism, Bioethics, Business, Education, and the like. Boasting over 20 sessions over a given time block, it’s not hard to find something you enjoy, or so they say. Ethics is not necessarily the most at- tractive and enticing subject for most people. The population at the conference consisted largely of an older generation and graduate students seeking jobs and mentorships. Many of the sessions seemed to lack an expected rigor in discussion as well as missing the in- clusion of what one might expect to find at an Ethics conference; that is, ethics. Many of the presentations we at- tended were uninspired and failed to dive deep into any discussion as to right and wrong or even the basis one could look at for such a de- cision. For example, one session was labeled “Generation Ethics: A Battle for the Ages.” One might expect to find how millennials view eth— ics differently from baby boomers. Anecdot- ally, I have seen a separation between the two groups in moral reasoning. The former lacks a strong foundation as they move from tradi- tion towards the uncertainty and ambiguity of the world they inherit. They are determined to work in the name of self—interest and loyalty to support their communities, be it work or family. This is an idea formulated during the immediate process of writing a short-word ar- ticle, and it should surely pale in comparison to the thought and expertise of lifelong ethi- cists. Instead, a study from 2011 was displayed as a discussion, and passed around the room. It was about where the audience was from, and how they viewed their generation. Some sessions were certainly more in tune with questions about basis from ethics, action, and rights (Surprisingly, the Oishinbo manga presentation was one of the most poi- gnant in this regard.) Perhaps the dissonance came from the misaligned expectations of the young and eager participants, and the reality of the situation. The people of the association, alone, are wonderful for the views and interest in ranging topics, but in presentation perhaps are tuned to a different audience. Ultimately, while there is great breadth of topic at APPE, depth remains to be seen from the practical professionals. If you like to talk, go to conferences, or are interested in learning more about com- peting in relaxed and effortless National con— ferences, EthicsBowl meets every Thursday in the Cherry Room of Galvin Library during lunch.