| Tuesday, January 28, 2014 TechNews STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SINCE 1928 McCormick Tribune Campus Center Room 221 3201 South State Street Chicago, Illinois 60616 E-mail: editor@technewsiit.com Website: http://www.technewsiit.com ‘ .- +9" “ STAFF Editor-in-Chief Kori Bowns Assistant Editor Hannah Larson Opinion Editor Austin Gonzalez Campus Editor Utsav Gandhi ABE Editor Matti Scannell Sports Editor Nathan McMahon IT Manager Pranava Teja Surukuchi Copy Editors Travon Cooman Kristal Copeland Shireen Gul Anoopa Sundararajan Layout Editors Rachael Affenit Swasti Khuntia Distribution Manager Emilie Woog Financial Advisor Vickie Tolbert Faculty Advisor Gregory Pulliam MISSION STATEMENT Our mission is to promote student discussion and bolster the IITVcommunity by providing a newspaper that is highly accessible, a stalwart of journalistic integrity, and a student forum. TechNews is a dedicated to the belief that a strong campus newspaper is essentialto a strong campus community. GENERAL INFORMATION TechNews is written, managed, and edited by the students of, and funded in part by, Illinois Institute of Technology. The material herein does not necessarily reflect the opinions of Illinois Institute of Technology or the editors, staff. and advisor of TechNews.There wiIlbe no censorship ofTechNews publication by the faculty or staff of IIT. Sole authority and responsibility for publication and adherence to the values set forth in this policy rests with the TechNews staff. This paper seeks to bring together the various segments of the Illinois Tech communityand strives through balance and content to achieve a position of respect and excellence. TechNews strives for professionalism with due respect to the intellectual values of the university and its community. All materialsubmitted becomes the property of TechNews. and is subject to any editorial decisions deemed necessary. 5 U B M I SS I O N S TechNews is published on the Tuesday of each week of the academic year. Deadline for all submissions and announcements is 11:59 pm. on the Friday prior to publication. Articles, photos, and illustrations must be submitted electronically to the TechNews website at technewsiit.com. EDITORIAL POLICY The editors reserve the right to determine if submitted material meets TechNews' policy and standards. For more information about our editorial standards. please email assteditor@technewsiit.com. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters to the editor may be submitted by anyone, but are subject to review by the Editor-in-Chief. All letters-to-the-editor become the property of TechNews upon ”submission. TechNews does not accept or publish anonymous letters or sto ADVERTISING Legitimate paid advertisements, from within or outside the IIT community, which serve to produce income for the paper. are accommodated. TechNews holds the right to deny any advertisement unsuitable for publication. Media Kits are available upon request. Ad space is limited and is taken on a first-come, first-serve basis. Contact the Business Manager at business@ technewsiit.com for more information. LOCAL 8 NATIONAL ADVERTISERS To place an ad, contact us via email at business@technewsiit.com. Unacceptable flaws exist in IIT communication Khaleela Zaman STAFF WRITER I was walking back to SSV from dinner at the Commons with my friend, on Monday, January 20, when suddenly we spotted a cloud of red and blue flashing lights ahead. Lining both sides of State Street between 3410 and Crown Hall were multiple emergency vehicles, including police cars and ambulances. We immediately wanted to know what was going on. I checked my phone, but there was no IIT Alert text message there yet, so we figured an alert would come soon. Then, we waited...and waited...and waited, but no message ever came. It was really strange, because we received eight IIT Alert messages on our phones on January 13 about a shooting that apparently was not on campus. Viewing the scene between 3410 and Crown from an SSV window, it was a long time before all the emergency vehicles abandoned the area. As an architecture student, I wanted to know what was going on near those buildings. All of a sudden, a fellow architecture major banged on my door. She reported that as she was walking toward those buildings to use the computer lab, she saw that someone or a group of people got hit by a car and there was blood on the ground. This was shocking, although not implausible when you consider the combination of snow and ice on the roads with the cars that ignore the sign telling them to stop when pedestrians need to cross. The scary thing about the incident is how the victim truly could have been any student. Crossing State Street is essential to all IIT students, so why is it not safe to cross the street? What if there was a reduced speed limit just through the campus? Also, it puzzles me to think that the IIT student body never received an IIT Alert about the situation. Would it not trouble at least some students to witness so many emergency vehicles on the main street of campus? Would they not wonder what happened, why the vehicles were there—moreover, do they not have a right to know? Later that evening, my friend who walked back to SSV with me pulled up her Facebook. Below a photo of the scene was a post from Katherine Stetz, our Dean of Students, saying that IIT administration was aware of the situation. I decided to email Stetz asking why there was no IIT Alert, but only a Facebook message (not all IIT students have Facebook.) No response has been provided to me. Why has the Dean of Students not yet responded to an email from on of her students? Living in the Chicago metropolis, the safety of IIT students should be a top priority for this institution, and that priority cannot be fulfilled without proper communication. Violence ravages Shia group in Pakistan Shireen Gul COPY EDITOR I was on Skype with my foureyear- old nephew \ a large amount?“ I smiled and said, “Yes you He looked at me with his innocent and said, “Lilcn, Mama was just telling her friend that until now more than 200 p iple have died in the last three massive blasts. We will also die if“ ‘Ya Ali‘." 'lhis ki : question left me speech- less; all I could remember was my childhood where we had no idea of what dying meant. What does being Sunni or Shia mean? All we knew was that we have to live, play, out 11nd cn he asked, "Is sleep. The lfilggc‘kt {Jill at; It... 1 - scolding us and the most unafe p ace for us was standing on the edge ofa roof. But now we have to tell our kids that this country is not a safe place to live. My heart goe‘ out to all those famie lies who lost their loved ones in these inhue mane acts; it changed everything in an instant forever. Nothing would be) the same for them anymore. On January 21, once again heaven gained 22 souls and the reason for their death was just that either they were Shia or they \rvere living in a Shia dominated area. Whenever I hear about someone’s death, all which revive in my mind is the mt» ment when i lost my L est brother forever. He was suffering from cancer and we all knew somew iere in our mind that he would leave us one day but we were still not prepared for his death. I wonder about those people who were sitting and having a good family time and all of a sudden just in one blow all w gone. A bomb doesn‘t know who it kills. lt do . l di. " note on b “-1' ion or anything; it just kills. 'lhen w y do we have to discriminate? I'm tired ofthis violence; I‘m tired of the pain and still can‘t help it. I’m tired of be- ing on the road, lonely as a robin in the rain. I want to run away from all this but will it bring . . in my s ’ ' 1: LI olj‘cople bv ing ugly to each othen It at ‘ like pieces of glass in my body; it feels like scars on the soul of humanity, I‘m tired of all the times I‘ve wanted to help and couldn't. I want to do something at least that would bring a little ho e to peo- ple who 1051 their families. their fri ‘ ids, their whole lives and have torn apart in just a second. I‘m tired of being in the dark of this ruthless war of ethnicity. Mostly it"s all about the pain. There‘s too much that words can't explain. If I could end it, I would have but there is no hope for humanity. I wonder what can relieve these people, what can change their fate. How would a Sunni feel if they are asked to change their sect just because Shia doesn't like it? If they never question us about our bel' ifs then why do we have to question them? In fact, we don‘t even ask them, we just kill them. I believe a society that accepts mass killing as norm, indeed is a “Dead Society." It Inc to accept this bitter truth about . Every day, dozens are butchered us but it has no elfect on our social “0 still manage to party around and for get to give a thought to such people who have lost their loved one. Spare a thought for victims of Mastung tragedy blast as you start your life lives. pccicclull) tULlAUALUH. If that thought provokes you a bit then help people. Not much but at least vol— unteer at Edhi Centers by donating blood or volunteer your time. It’s not much; it's actually nothing, it won’t cure their pain nor it will help them sleep but it is the least we can do until it's us or until the next time the whole world shakes up and crumbles. My country bleeds again and I mourn, I mourn for its fate, its destiny and its people. “Joint RHA, Red Cross preparedness event drills students in emergencies Kyle Stanevich STAFF WRITER This time of year is exceptionally busy for all clubs—recruiting new students, finishing up old projects, and planning events for the new semester. The Residence Hall Association (RHA) has been extraordinarily busy with their move out of the basement oflice and into the glass room toward the back of the McCormick Lounge in MSV. They are excited that the new office space will bring more visibility to the organization. RHA’s first general body meeting of the year was Friday, January 24, at 7 pm. right outside their new office. They partnered with the Red Cross organization on campus (Red Cross IIT) to organize an emergency preparedness informational event about how to prepare yourself for a disaster and what to do during one. The motto was “Get a kit. Make a plan. Be informed.” Before a disaster strikes, such as a blizzard, tornado, or fire, you should make an emergency kit. Included should be water, non-perishable food, first aid kit supplies, a radio, tools, personal identification, contact information, a map, money, clothing, toiletries, and anything else that will keep you alive and sane. This should be somewhere easily accessible so that you can grab it and go. Next, you should make a plan. Know where the exits are and what you will do in a variety of emergency scenarios. Finally, you need to be informed. Learn about the area you live so as to better understand what possible disasters can happen and where the safe places are in case of those disasters. First aid is extremely important in disaster scenarios so learn some basic skills to help yourself or others if ever in need. For more information about these steps you can Visit Red Cross’ website. The trustworthy MSV fire alarms concluded the event, giving everyone the chance to practice their emergency preparedness skills by evacuating the building, a common occurrence in the MSV dorms. If this were a real emergency, some students would not fare too well, running out into the frosty night with just a t-shirt. The first general body meeting of RHA was a huge success. If you have something that you want to change that deals with residence hall life, stop by RHA’s new office. They have executive board meetings at 6 pm. on Sundays in the Fishbowl (the glass room towards the back of the McCormick Lounge) for anyone that is interested. They also rent out DVDs to students for free, so if you want to watch an awesome movie, stop by the office and check one out.