The document discusses several ongoing facility repairs and changes to the honors college at the University of Toledo. Repairs are continuing on the East and West parking ramps after emergency issues were discovered in September. Several university buildings also suffered water damage in January when pipes burst, with repairs expected to be completed by the end of March. The honors college is working to increase student recruitment and awareness of alternative options to the traditional thesis, such as research projects related to students' fields of study. Only 40% of students who start in the honors college currently graduate with honors.

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INSIDE
Law Center gas leak
solved free of charge
Students were evacuated from
UT’s Law Center Feb. 12 after au-
thorities discovered a gas leak.
NEWS / 3 »
Black
Student
Union
presents
annual
FASHION
SHOW
Wednesday, February 18, 2014
COMMUNITY / 7 »
UNIVERSITY FACILITIES
REPAIRS IN PROGRESS
Repairs
continue
on East
and West
parking
ramps
Damage
to UT’s
buildings
still
being
assessed
“
“In the end, it’s
basically the same
work load that your
regular classes dump
on you — the differ-
ence usually ends up
being that you get
asked to do more
thought-provoking
work about things you
actually enjoy learning.”
DANIELLE GAMBLE
Editor-in-Chief
“College appealed to
me because it
provided avenues of
learning outside of the
classroom — avenues
that I would find very
difficult to explore if I
was stuck in the
classroom in order to
jump through more
hoops than necessary.”
SAMUEL DERKIN
News Editor
Should students care
about the
honors college?
OPINION / 4 »
SPORTS / 5 »
Zach Garber and
Jonathan Williams
make a mark on
Rocket basketball
Honors college changes
raise excitement, concern
STUDENT RECRUITMENT
By Amanda Pitrof
Associate News Editor
Making students more aware of their op-
tions and expanding recruitment are among
the changes being made in the Jesup Scott
Honors College.
“What concerns me is that we’re attracting
these bigger numbers of well-prepared, aca-
demic, band-one students, and yet a very large
percentage … are choosing not to be a part
of the honors program even though they are
eligible to be a part,” Provost Scott Scarborough
said at the Feb. 11 Faculty Senate meeting.
What is worse, according to Scarborough,
is that half of those who do choose to take
part in the honors program drop out before
they get to the end.
“So what it says to me … there’s something
wrong about the program,” Scarborough said.
“How do you alter the honors college experi-
ence so that 100 percent of these students who
are capable and willing and able to benefit
from experience like this would choose to be
a part of this experience?”
Only 40 percent of students who start out
as honors students end up graduating with
honors, according to Lakeesha Ransom, dean
of the honors college. Based on conversa-
tions she has had with students, she feels this
is partly because many students don’t realize
they have options other than writing a thesis.
“When they got to the thesis, they didn’t
necessarily see how it related to what they
wanted to do long-term, and it seemed like it
was incongruent with their longer-term vision
for what they’d like to do,” Ransom said in a
recent interview.
While there has always been the option
to write a thesis or to conduct a project, she
thinks that “what most students have inter-
preted is ‘You have to write a thesis.’”
Toremedythis,Ransomsaid,thehonorscollege
istryingtomakestudentsmoreawareofthetypes
ofprojectstheycandoinsteadofwritingathesis.
The projects are tailored to the students’
individual needs while maintaining the stan-
dards of the honors college. Some examples
Ransom gave of what students may do for
their projects are:
• Engaging in core research, which usually
leads to students publishing an article about
their findings.
• Studying in another country and writing a
report about research they conducted there.
• Starting an entrepreneurial venture.
• Putting together a gallery exhibition of
their work.
In addition to creating and paying attention
to new pathways for honors students,
See Honors college / 3 »
“I think we’ll
really be able to
see the impact
this fall when we
start analyzing
the numbers...”
DEAN LAKEESHA RANSOM
By Samantha Rhodes
Features Editor
The University of Toledo has filed
two claims so far after 24 buildings
on the University of Toledo’s Main
Campus and Health Science Cam-
pus suffered water damage when
pipes burst in January.
Repairs are expected to be
completed by the end of March.
Chris Levicki, manager of
structural maintenance, said the
total costs and coverage for all
damages have not been deter-
mined at this time, but that UT’s
Office of Risk Management said
UT is responsible for the first
$100,000 worth of cost per claim
because of their deductible.
The deductible refers to the
amount the policy holder has to
pay before the insurance com-
pany begins covering costs.
Levicki went on to say that
many of the buildings sustained
damage to the interior finishes
(walls, flooring and ceilings) as
well as office equipment.
“There are a number of office
type equipment such as comput-
ers and printers that were dam-
aged,” Levicki said.
The labs in Sullivan Hall are
still closed for repairs.
Though many of the damages are
already repaired, Levicki said the
“worse cases” are still in progress.
“The damage in Scott Hall,
Tucker Hall, Bowman-Oddy, Sul-
livan Hall and Wolfe Hall was sub-
stantial,” Levicki said. “Only classes
in Bowman-Oddy and Sullivan
Hall were affected though. Some
of the labs had to be held at other
locations within the building.”
According to Associate Vice
President of Facilities and Con-
struction Jason Toth, the extreme
cold temperatures and wind chill
caused a number of situations
resulting in frozen pipes and equip-
ment on campus such as fire sup-
pression lines and plumbing lines.
NICOLE GREEN / IC
The East parking garage, located by McMaster Hall, has been
under construction since emergency repair work began in
September. Acording to Dan Klett, university architect, the
university committed $900,000 to associated repair costs.
COURTESY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TOLEDO
After a pipe burst at Sullivan Hall on Jan. 30, areas of the
building suffered water damage. Final repairs are expected to be
completed by the end of March.
See Sullivan pipes / 3 »
By Samantha Rhodes
Features Editor
After discovering the need
for emergency repairs in
both the East and West Ramp
parking garages in September,
the University of Toledo has
completed portions of repairs,
but is still working to finalize
construction.
According to Dan Klett,
university architect, UT has
worked on portions of both
the East and West Ramp parking
garages beginning on Sept. 20,
2013, when contractors conduct-
ing inspections as part of sched-
uled maintenance discovered the
need for emergency repairs.
Temporary emergency mea-
sures were implemented im-
mediately and resulted in partial
closures for the remainder of the
fall 2013 semester.
Phil Whaley, a structural engi-
neer at Poggemeyer Design Group
and a regional expert in the repair
of concrete structures, coordinated
the repair work on the East Ramp,
according to UT News.
The West Parking Ramp and
the lower three levels of the
East Parking Ramp opened Jan.
6 while the top level remained
closed for needed repairs.
See Parking repairs / 3 »